Politics Tag

An unfortunate outcome of the “modern” way of thinking–shaped by the all-are-equal assumption–is the fact that over the years, it has contributed to the reduction in the capacity of a society to produce heroes, role models etc. Today’s heroes derive from the entertainment, fashion, business and sports streams. Equally, the (primarily Marxist) widespread notion that all people–no matter what their genuine achievements are–are “subjects” to be “analysed,” has also hastened this reduction. Thus, when you have no one towering person/hero to look up to, your value system will emanate from mindlessRead More

A defining characteristic of our Secular-Left-Liberal academics is their incredible felicity to theorise reality. This theory is then injected into public discourse by their handmaidens in the media. As a consequence, we now have an entire generation of academics who sit in the lawns and lounges of India International Centre and spout out the “real” reason for say, the Muzaffarnagar riots and reel off reams of “analyses.” Equally, we have an entire generation of journalists whose faculties rebel against even the notion of stepping out their TV studios. And inRead More

Introduction More than five years ago, Wendy Doniger bestowed a rather flippant interview in Outlook India on the eve of the release of her book, The Hindus: An Alternative History, the same book which Penguin (the publisher) later agreed to pulp when it was faced with legal action initiated by Dinanath Batra. The title sounds sufficiently pompous, entirely faithful to Wendy Doniger’s career as an Indologist. Aditi Banerjee responded with a comprehensive rejoinder that yet again reinforced Wendy’s suspect credentials as an honest scholar of Indology. Aditi’s almost line-by-line dissection of the interviewRead More

Preface The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has consistently earned high rankings in the world as “16th in the world for academics and 13th in the world for reputation” and boasts of being affiliated with several Nobel laureates. Its noble motto, “let there be light” has echoes from the Vedic Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya. A University that boasts of such credentials usually means that it adheres to the highest academic standards in both teaching, course material, textbook prescriptions, recommended and additional reading, faculty-selection… at the least, it implies that when youRead More

He came, he saw, he spoke, and he wowed. He’d already conquered Bangalore years ago. In his 28 April election speech on the eve of the Karnataka Assembly polls 2013, Narendra Modi simply notched up yet another triumph in a long series of triumphs that began with his third consecutive, definitive victory in the Gujarat Assembly polls. Nobody expected anything less. Just as Narendra Modi the Chief Minister delivers every single time, Narendra Modi, the committed BJP party worker (as he describes himself) too delivers every single time. Consistency inRead More

This piece was first published in Center Right India. Posted here in full. Of all “Days” that India celebrates every year, only Engineers’ Day is meaningful, and Children’s Day, the most wasted. It stretches the limits of even fantasy to find a link to Jawaharlal Nehru and children. It boggled my brain way back in primary school when the lesson told me that November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday was celebrated as Children’s Day because “Nehru was fond of children” and “he gave a red rose to every child he met”Read More

Note: This is a translation of Pratap Simha’s piece that appeared in today’s Kannada Prabha. Girish Karnad image courtesy: IBN Live. The Mumbai Lit fest on Friday witnessed major drama when veteran actor and theatre artist Girish Karnad slammed Nobel prize laureate VS Naipaul and called him anti-Muslim. Karnad, who was present at the lit-fest on Friday to conduct a class on theatre, spoke at length about Naipaul. The first paragraph of CNN-IBN’s news report makes it clear that the purpose of Girish Karnad attending the Mumbai Literature Live! festivalRead More

So Girish Karnad is back again. In style. And with a fury I scarcely expected he was capable of. It’s really a monumental pity that a fine actor like Girish Karnad can nary control his itch to mouth inanities. On Friday afternoon at the Tata Literature Live! festival in Mumbai, playwright Girish Karnad surprised audiences with an unexpected and elaborate criticism of author V.S. Naipaul. Naipaul was awarded the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Wednesday night. Even if I’m tempted to attribute Karnad’s outburst to professional jealousy, good sense advisesRead More

NOTE: This is my translation of Pratap Simha’s piece titled Hindugale Haedigalaagiruvaaga Anyarannu Doori Phalavenu that appeared in Kannada Prabha on August 25, 2012. As always, comments and criticism are welcome. It has been called brain drain or flight of talent. Much noise has been made against it. It has been held responsible for this nation’s continued backwardness. But then, no matter what, in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s decades, people who had dreams of building a bright future for themselves, people who embarked on a quest to find careerRead More

It didn’t need a Rajiv Gandhi to tell us that only 20% of the funds allocated to any public project actually reaches the intended recipients. He only vocalized what was already well-known even in his own time. He was obviously talking about the corruption that occurs at all levels starting from the top. So let’s keep this aside for a moment and focus on the loot that happens at the bureaucratic level. What I’m talking about is a truism: that many a well-intentioned public project is mercilessly butchered on theRead More

Note: This is the translation of Pratap Simha’s piece entitled Narendra Modi Haniyalu Congress Hidida Daari Yenthaaddu? that appeared in Kannada Prabha on 21 July, 2012. Translation is entirely mine and has the author’s approval. You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise. Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wellsPumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just likeRead More

Introduction Jagadish Shettar is all set to take oath as the 27th Chief Minister of Karnataka. The incumbent, Sadananda Gowda has already submitted his resignation to the BJP party president. That makes it three Chief Ministers in four years to rule Karnataka. That this is hardly a model of stability is clear on plain sight. However, “plain sight” is just that: it is superficial. Deeper analysis shows a completely different picture. This has much to do with the story of the BJP’s first-ever stab at power in South India andRead More

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This post is partly a response to several comments I received on my posts related to the Ram Sethu project. The greater part, however, is my education, an attempt to trace the Rama (and Ramayana) consciousness in Tamil Nadu.

Nilagriva is pretty upset that People are bringing the Veda to everyday life to the extent that soon we’ll have vedic tea, vedic coffee and vedic TV. Why the urge to prefix everything under the sun with vedic? His angst

Stumbled upon this gem of a verse from Bhartruhari’s Nitishataka yesterday. Very compelling and relevant for all times. Rough translation is mine. Boddharo matsaragrastaah prabhavaah smayadooshitaah| Abodhaapahataschaanye jeernamange subhashitam|| Consumed with jealousy are the teachers and scholars, repositories of knowledge

Read Field Notes 1 on Ellora for a backgrounder. The Ajanta Caves The well-known story of how John Smith, a British officer belonging to the Madras army regiment, (re)discovered Ajanta caves doesn’t bear repitition. However, it suffices to say that

In my introductory post on this topic, I mentioned that Buddha’s teachings are no different from that of Vedanta, that Buddha presented the distilled essence of Vedanta, that Buddha’s primary inspiration was the Vedas, and that the difference lay not

Jaffna at Secular Right muses on a “radical reinterpretation” of Hinduism and the caste system. In a sentence, the gist of his thoughts: Hinduism has never condemned a truly spiritual person on the basis of caste. The people he cites–from

Do Indians have a sense of history? No is pretty much the received wisdom even today in major sections of the academia, media and the rest. If you as much as question the sources, the roots of this received wisdom,

Preface Among others, Buddha both upheld and clarified the concept of Yagna in language that laymen could comprehend. This goes contrary to the widespread belief that Buddha condemned the concept of Yagna as we shall see later in this essay.

Today is Makara Sankranti, celebrated across India to both herald the beginning of longer days, and reap the harvest of months of backbreaking work in the fields. But the greater significance of Makara Sankranti like most Hindu festivals, is to

Swapan Dasgupta, a writer I’ve admired for long writes in the Wall Street Journal about the BJP’s chance of making a fresh start under Nitin Gadkari. It’s really an OK piece compared to Swapan’s more incisive articles. No new insight

The old suspect, A.K. Ramanujan emerges out of the woodwork on Outlook’s pages. The magazine’s leader to this article says: …in a pocket of the Delhi University, right-wing student activists have taken exception to this essay by the celebrated scholar